Chapter 74

“Boras, what did you do?”

“Oh, I just brought some of the neighborhood residents into our game. Please enjoy the company.”

So this was his doing; I should have expected it.

“So you are telling me to kill him?”

“If my lady desires.”

Boras said it in a really irksome voice. I stared at the resident of the slums coldly, and I just lopped off his head without any hesitation. He was already dead, so there was no point in caring if he was alive.

“Is this what you wanted?”

I glance at my surroundings, waiting for Boras to respond, but silence fills the hallways for a moment, and I think he was gone till…

“My lady, you really did it, just like that?”

Boras has a tone that was a mix of exasperation and annoyance, like I had to make a hard decision, but I ignored him and went back to Clare to lift her back up to continue finding Skis.

It was good that Boras thought that I didn’t know about necromancy magic and thought I didn’t have the will to kill a person, so that he could get bored with me.

“Come on, Clare, let’s go.”

I whispered to Clare, and we continued following the marks Skis left for us. As we followed where Skis was going, we fortunately did not encounter any undead residents, because I saw dead, lifeless, unmoving bodies of the slum residents in our path.

Looking at them, I knew that this was Skis’s doing, meaning he also figured out that they were already dead.

We should be close, I'm hoping, because this was the only way to get Clare out of here.

Continuing to follow the marks on the walls eventually led us to another staircase, and I heard what seemed to be fighting upstairs.

Going up the staircase, I momentarily pause as I see a lot of dead bodies lying motionless across the open space of the third floor until I see Skis fighting a group of black-hooded people.

I lay Clare by the side of the staircase to hide her from the group, which was like a small mob, attacking Skis, numbering around 15, and lunging at him with their swords in a frenzy. On top of that, he was also being attacked by another group of three who looked like they were guarding a door, two of them firing water and earth spells at Skis, and the other didn’t seem to do anything except for flowing his mana through the mob.

Sensing the mana, I realized that the mob of my family’s black knights was already dead and was being controlled by him, a necromancer. I moved in when they had their full attention on attacking Skis.

Rushing straight toward the mages, I was halfway toward them till they saw me. The two mages fire their spells, which seem oddly familiar but a lot weaker than the two mages I’d fought.

I didn’t need to alter my perception of time to dodge their water arrow and the earth spikes shooting out of the walls.

However, as I got close, Skis shouted, realizing I was here.

“Don’t! They're dangerous; go back.”

As he said that, the mob of my family’s Black Knights split, and a group of them came my way. Seeing that, I did what Skis told me because I doubt I would be able to take them on.

I stopped running to the mages and turned back, running back to the staircase, but as I got back and was about to carry Clare away, preparing to make a run for it with her, I saw that Clare was gone.

What? Where’s Clare? I stopped by the edge of the staircase, a million thoughts running through my mind, and I realized… Boras took Clare.

Goddamnit, I should have expected it. I let Clare out of my sight for a moment, and she was taken.

“Nyx, what are you doing? We have to run.”

Running past me and down the stairs was Skis, telling me to follow him as I stood there.

Realizing that they were coming for us, I immediately followed Skis down.

I catch up to Skis, and we run for the staircase to the first floor. As we ran, Skis asked me.

“Did you find her?”

“Yes, but she’s gone.”

“Gone?”

“I had to set her aside because she was not in a condition to even move, but Boras took her while I was trying to help you.”

“Didn’t I give you a full heal potion?”

I gritted my teeth and said,.

“Boras took it and the rest of my potions because it’s apparently banned in this twisted game of his.”

“Then, do you know where Boras took her?”

“I don’t know, but I—”

I was cut off when I began to smell something burning, and when we reached the staircase to the first floor after making a turn, smoke was coming up.

Damnit, so he set fire to the building so we can’t leave.

I looked at Skis, and he said,

“This is not good; we have to leave.”

Skis then looked in one direction and said,. “Guess I have to make a hole out of the building so we can jump out of it.”

Hearing his plan, I told him.

“No, Guild Master Skis, we have to find Clare.”

He looked at me questioningly and then asked.

“Do you know where she is?”

I thought about it, and I said,

“The rooftop.”

“The rooftop? Why the rooftop?”

“Again, because this was a game to him, and logically, from storybooks, he should be at the top, waiting for us. After all, you notice that they didn’t chase us past the stairs, in addition to the door they were guarding.”

Skis looked at me for a short moment and said,.

“Won’t we have to get through the necromancer on the third floor?”

“Yes, but I don’t have a choice because there is no telling what Boras would do to Clare’s life if I don’t.”

“You’re sure about it?”

“Yes, Boras sees this as nothing more than a game; if it brings him a modicum of enjoyment, then he would do it.”

Thinking about it for a moment, Skis said, “I see, I trust you on that.”

After agreeing, we ran back to the staircase that led to the third floor, faster than before because the building was on fire. And when we were by the staircase, he handed me something that I recognized.

“Take this. I’ll be the distraction, and you wait for an opening to throw it at the necromancer.”

Receiving it, I nodded and held the yellow potion, which was Stillshade venom he used earlier on one of my family’s black knights.

Skis ran up the stairs, and I waited for a couple of seconds after I heard Skis start fighting. I went up to the edge of the staircase, hiding myself so I could watch for any openings Skis was going to make.

I watched as Skis rushed toward the necromancer, who was guarding the door that led to the rooftop, with a group of dead black knights and the pair of mages in his way.

Looking at them closely, they look familiar… Wait, aren’t they the two mages whom I fought earlier? Right… They're corpses, and they are also controlled by the necromancer over there for some reason.

I didn’t realize it because they were acting and moving very differently from how I fought them, since they were very static and robotic, not moving away from the necromancer. Not only that, but I faintly sense his mana directly flowing into the mages.

I found it strange that the necromancer had to directly control them instead of letting them move autonomously. Maybe it’s because Skis and I damaged their bodies, and they need time to be fixed.

Closely watching the necromancer, I turn to Skis, who, despite the severe numerical disadvantage, was dealing with the mob of dead black knights with relative ease.

The only real problem was the two mages firing their magic toward him, stopping Skis from cutting down my family’s black knights.

I watched as he was forced to swing his sword in the air or preemptively dodge the spells being thrown at him. Skis was managing to harm them, but it was a losing battle because he would be worn out first before he finished off the group of my family’s black knights to deal with the two mages and the necromancer.

After what seemed like a few minutes of Skis fighting, I saw an opening because Skis managed to position three of my family’s black knights perfectly, where in one swing of his sword, Skis managed to behead three of my family’s black knights in one swing. It causes the necromancer to panic, and he pours more mana into the mob of black knights, making them move less chaotically and more organized.

So with that, I threw the bottle of paralyzing potion as accurately as I could, and I rushed in.

Sprinting toward the necromancer and the two mages by his side, the paralyzing potion splashed on him. It only takes a couple of seconds to take full effect, but I saw that his arms were moving toward me, directing the mages by his side to attack me, so I threw Athrun’s sword straight toward him.

Athrun’s sword plunged into his shoulder, and I moved to push the sword further in. Then, pulling out Athrun’s sword, I dealt with the two mages next to me. I swung at their heads, and they were slow to react because they were controlled by the necromancer, who was momentarily unable to control them due to me.

Seeing that the mages were dealt with, I turned back to the necromancer and guessed that he was going to attack me while I dealt with the mages, so I stretched my perception of time and moved my body to its limits to move as time slowed down. In way less than a second, I cut his arms off in one swing that was holding a dagger, thrusting toward me. Then, following that, I moved and thrust at his neck, aiming for his spinal cord.

At the same time as I severed his spinal cord behind his neck, the movement of the mob of my family’s black knights had severely slowed down and dulled, and with that, Skis leaped at the opening, and he butchered them.

Time reverted to normal, and I heard Skis finish off the last of my family’s Black Knights and walk toward me.

Next to my side, he looks at me, and I look back; then we look at the necromancer that I had completely paralyzed from the neck down.

“Do you want me to finish him off?”

I nodded yes, and I walked to the door that the necromancer was guarding. It was the door to the rooftop, and I felt a pit in my stomach. Was this nervousness? I haven’t felt something like this in a while. Rarely do I feel nervous, but after all that has happened over the last few days, I am feeling nervous.

I didn’t really feel this way when my family’s Black Knights hunted me down, since it was my life they were targeting for the most part, even when I was in a life-and-death battle with that drake I encountered.

I didn’t really feel this way when Clare was kidnapped by Boras because I was much too angry to feel anything else.

I didn’t really feel this way when I stormed into the building to rescue Clare with Skis because I treated it as a military operation in my past life, where such emotions are set aside and bottled up, since it wouldn’t benefit anyone.

Now… those emotions are starting to emerge, starting to seep out because, like a game, this is the end, and Boras is the final boss.

Failure is not an option. I don’t know what my father or Boras would do to me if I’m captured, but more importantly, Clare’s life is in danger if I don’t win. Boras knows that threatening Clare’s life was not enough, and I don’t know what I would do without her because I have been fortunate not to lose someone truly dear to me.

In my past life before my death, Norn and I both knew we would have to sacrifice ourselves to save humanity. We’ve accepted our own and each other's deaths, but with Clare, it’s a different story.

“Nyx, are you hurt anywhere?”

Stopping my inner thoughts and feelings, Skis asked me if I was okay, in addition to handing over a full heal potion.

“Take this. You said you don’t have any healing potions left, right?”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Taking the full heal potion, I put it in my pocket. Closing my eyes and taking a long, deep breath, I calm myself.

When I open my eyes after a couple of seconds, Skis asks me if I am ready, and I nod yes.

Skis opened the door, and we went up to the roof. But as we were walking up, we heard clapping.

Hearing it, my blood boiled because I knew it was Boras. I glared in the direction of the clapping and saw him, alone, without Clare anywhere near her.

“What the hell did you do to Clare?”

In an icy, frigid voice, I demanded to know what Boras had done to Clare because I’m just done, done with whatever he was planning.

Shrugging his shoulders, “I’m afraid I can’t tell you; it’s part of the game, my lady.”

Part of the game?! Part of the game?! I gritted my teeth under my expressionless face, and thoughts of… killing him started filling my mind. That obnoxious glee in his voice, I truly wanted to show my anger toward him, but I knew I couldn’t. Not because Boras wanted it, but I physically couldn’t, no matter how hard I tried.

Sometimes I wish I could express my emotions, and this was one of those times, because if I could express my emotions at will like a normal person, maybe none of this would have happened.

Anger filled my entire being to the point I ignored Ski’s reaction when Boras said, My lady, which Ski was mildly surprised by under his calm and battle-ready expression.

“Ah, you must be Guild Master Skis Fuldrick; it’s a pleasure to meet you. I must thank you for watching over my lady over there.”

Saying that mockingly, Skis coolly responded.

“So you are responsible for causing so much chaos in my city.”

“If you put it that way, yes, I have.”

Pointing his blue-colored sword at Boras, Boras responds by unsheathing his sword, pointing it at us, with a green aura that was made out of wind surrounding him.

Skis makes the first move, and Boras smirks. He definitely knows about Skis' sword, which is why he isn’t using any magic against him, so the wind surrounding him targeted me instead.

Sensing that his mana was moving toward me, I evaded the blades made of wind that cut apart the rooftop I was standing on.

Trying to stop the blades made out of wind from targeting me, Skis tries to intercept them with his sword, but I sense Boras skillfully moves the wind blades he made out of the way of Skis’s sword. Realizing that his sword was not absorbing Boras’s spells after one swing, Skis closes the distance to him and thrusts at him.

Boras parries the thrust and counters, but Skis takes several steps back, dodging the sweeping cut of his sword.

Seeing a couple of strands of Skis’s hair being cut as he moved back, it gave me an opening to rush in and attack Boras, since his attention was momentarily mostly focused on Skis.

Skis, seeing me rush in, took a step forward and brought his sword down at Boras, keeping most of his attention focused on him instead of switching to me.

I swung Athrun’s sword up, but Boras used his magic and moved back, getting a lot of distance from me and Skis before I grazed his right cheek.

Having an amused smile as he was standing at the edge of the rooftop, opposite the side from where Skis and I were, he said,.

“My, my,” feeling the cut I made to his cheek, “Isn’t this a happy surprise?”

Not wanting to hear him spew out anymore nonsense, Skis and I rushed in toward him.

First to strike was Skis, since he was capable of countering Boras’s spells. They clash blades, and I follow up with my attack.

He tried to use his magic against me, but he was surprised to see that his mana was being drained by Skis’s sword, which was now glowing.

Skis’s sword cut through Boras’s sword like butter, and he nearly took off Boras’s head.

As Skis almost finished off the fight, I came in from the side, bringing Athrun’s sword down on him to make sure he didn’t move away from Skis’s swing.

However, Boras took a step back, and he fell off the edge of the rooftop he was standing on. Green wind formed around Boras as I saw him fall, stopping his fall and lifting him up in the air.

He stepped on what seemed like an invisible platform and jumped up to the rooftop of the neighboring building.

“My lady and Mr. Skis, I’m afraid you have to do better than that,” wagging his finger. “Or else, I have to do something much more motivating.”

He snickers as he says that, and Skis responds for me. With a glare, Skis asks because he knows that if I asked, it might make the situation worse.

“And what does that mean?”

“Oh, I’m really going to make good on my threats.”

Narrowing his eyes, Skis said, “I see,” and he took several steps back, looking like he was about to leap across the gap between buildings, till I heard a loud explosion.

One thought came to my mind when I heard the explosion, and the world seemed to stop, not because I was controlling my perception of time, but because I realized that Boras really did kill Clare, until I heard Boras mutter something in a confused tone.

Hearing his confusion, it snapped me from my shock of Clare’s death, and I saw Boras was surprised by the sudden loud explosion, where he even turned his head to look at the explosion.

Seeing that, I turned to look at it as well. I saw a massive plume of smoke on some rooftops I recognized, which were the ones I had to fight my family's Black Knights on.

Then, for some reason, I saw a large lightning bolt strike the building, causing another loud explosion.

The smoke cleared, and I saw one person coming out of the smoke, running on the rooftops, while a familiar arc of lightning flew next to him.